digital 101: digital concept adoption test

I often struggle when evaluating digital ideas during our creative internals, then got an idea for a super-basic litmus test:

be your digital best: digital 101:: not to be taken too seriously, bytes to keep in mind when planning for digital

Mad Men "The Suitcase": Don Draper's advice for breaking through a mental block

Just saw "The Suitcase" (Mad Men Season 4, Episode 7), and it is one of my favorite episodes in the series so far. Peggy has gotten more and more empoweredly awesome this season and gets major screen time — one-on-one with Don. She asserts herself and gets Don to see her as a contemporary. They get drunk and Don doesn't hit on her. Sort of.

The best thing about this episode was finally seeing Don desperately trying to come up with a stellar creative concept.

Matthew Weiner doesn't usually show him trying to come up with ideas, or banging his head against the wall when he can't come up with anything. They usually show him rejecting concepts from his team during creative internals, cut to the client presentation when he suddenly sells a campaign like "The Carousel". Or even better, he comes up with an insight + idea on the spot while presenting — obviously, "It's toasted".

Besides the very first episode, which opened with Don solo brainstorming for Lucky Strike at a diner (the challenge was that it had just become illegal to promote cigarettes by calling out their medicinal properties, go figure, see above re toasted), Don's creative process has been notably absent from the four season-old show. Without seeing Don writing or working on ad concepts has made me wonder if Weiner really understands, or cares to show, the often frustrating process of advertising development.

Peggy’s creative struggle is well-documented, but Weiner seems to attribute this to her being a woman in an ad man’s world. Don, on the other hand, is hardly ever shown at a loss for ideas and thus he has become an iconic advertising superhero who has brilliant flashes of insight as the need arises, even if that moment is midway through a client presentation.

So I was happy that "The Suitcase" finally showed Don trying to tackle a standard advertising challenge - a mental block. For most of the episode he and Peggy attempt to crack a brief for Samsonite, trying to find an idea that shows how much tougher their luggage is. Don is, as usual, running away from something. In this case, a social client call that is going to be sans alcohol (client and copywriter are recovering alcoholics). Gasp. So he demands that Peggy stay behind after work hour so they can figure the brief out. They work all night trying to find an idea that works.

Mental blocks are also a major woe for planners. Was thinking that if I follow Don’s lead in this episode I can isolate a few tactics about what to do the next time I'm struggling with finding an idea or insight:

1. Ideate intoxicated.
2. Get a brainstorming buddy, preferably someone you like but definitely someone way more junior than you, so you can feel superior when you start feeling defeated about not having arrived at that brilliant idea.
3. Insult said brainstorming buddy (when she accuses you of never saying “thank you”, tell her that's what her salary is for).
4. When really stuck, try brainstorming over dinner.
5. Start getting personal with brainstorming buddy even if you've hardly done that in the past four seasons; you never know what ideas it might generate.
6. When all else fails go somehwere darker, i.e. a bar, even if you were already drinking at the office anyway.
7. No matter how many units of alcohol you’ve consumed, try not to get hammered! You will absolutely fall asleep and not get any work done.
8. Were you raised in a barn? Even if you've thrown up on yourself and in front of much more junior and, let's face it, inferior, brainstorming buddy, start the work day with a fresh shirt from your fresh shirt drawer. In the absence of a good idea, at least you can look like Don Draper.
9. Draw inspiration from current events
10. Be Don Draper! Cause as inferior brainstorming buddy leaves from all-night overtime looking like yesterday's trash you reveal the mockup of your groundbreaking idea.

***

hollywood goes mad for parfum?

Have seen three YouTube web materials for perfume with actors and/or directors usually associated with film. What gives?

BLEU DE CHANEL
Hollywood factor - Directed by: Martin Scorsese


DIOR HOMME
Hollywood factor - Stars: Jude Law, Directed by: Guy Ritchi


GUCCI GUILTY
Hollywood factor - Stars: Chris Evans & Rachel Evan Wood
Extra points for the decked out YouTube page, Chris Evans wallpaper, and music by Friendly Fires. Jump in the pool!

#sentisabado

SENTI: In the Philippines we say "senti", short for "sentimental". When someone listens to Boyz II Men, or reminisces about an ex-boyfriend, their friends might retort with "senti naman!" ("how sentimental!").
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SABADO: Filipino for Saturday :)
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#sentisabado



I've been trying to find out just how many people tweeted to this hashtag today. But searching for it will show hundreds of new entries in a few seconds, so at least a few thousand today alone! Just like - 

@tonyocruz Today is #sentisabado. Philippine portion of Twitteria is on a "time space warp". To non-Filipinos, allow us to go sentimental today :)

@saabmagalona Sobrang angas mo pag kaya mong gumawa ng double star sa rubber band #sentisabado

@makilingmiracle Gentxt R U 1 F US? #sentisabado

@eclectickitty10 5110 #sentisabado

@cez8 Coney Island bubble gum ice cream :) #sentisabado
@ANDREWdecastro Coney Island German Chocolate Crunch #sentisabado

@catmarasigan Trapper Keepers! #sentisabado

@MissIzaCalzado New Kids on The Block!!! :p #sentisabado

@bevsss and my last #sentisabado for tonight is Eduardo Dalton. Goodnight, folks.

My tweet? @beaa Jem and the holograms! #sentisabado

Simple but truly viral :)

More about the origin of the #sentisabado hashtag via GameOPS.

crowdsourced group buying: philippine potential?

Online group buying has become a popular trend in the United States. Websites offer group deals - discounts, gift certificates, etc - that are activated once a minimum number avail.

Users are alerted on daily deals with promotions for restaurants, spas, stores, home services, etc. Each announcement includes the original price, discounted price and the minimum number of people that need to avail for the discount to be activated. Crowdsourced group buying.

Groupon is the most popular group buying site. Founded in 2008, it now operates in 150 cities worldwide. Its sizable user base guarantees a good chance for participation and its website claims that it has saved users almost $450 million.

I subscribed to their updates while in New York recently and got offers for discounted gym classes, maid service and restaurant gift certificates. Would probably have tried something if I'd been around long enough!

Would the same concept work here?
Have been wondering if this would work in the Philippines. Breaking it down, the operation would require

• Merchant partners
• a digital Distribution Platform
• Critical Mass - interest and participation, and an 
• Online Payment Facilities

And looking at how well we would do in each area —

The verdict?
Maybe not yet. While the right marketing could drive enough interest and participation in GMA, this might not be enough to constitute critical mass.

Who could capitalize on the trend
As internet penetration grows though, you never know! And maybe the offer needs to be put forth before demand grows.

• Coupon companies, e.g. Enjoy 
• Credit card companies who want to build the online shopping habit. Hmmmm!